Heel holddowns for use in heel attaching machines



July 27, 1965 M. CLAMP ETAL 3,197,106

HEEL HOLDDOWNS FOR USE IN HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed March 25, 196s 2 sheets-sheet 1 July 27, 1965 M CAMP ETAL 3,197,106

HEEL HOLDDOWNS FOR USE IN HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed March 25, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,197,196 HEEL HULDDOWNS FR USE IN IEEL A'ITACHING MACHINES Melvin Clamp, North Andover, and Geore F. McLean,

fr., Middieton, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 267,736 3 Claims. (Cl. 227-152) This invention relates to heel attaching machines and more particularly to holddowns for accommodating scooped wedge heels during their attachment to shoes. In the attachment of wedge heels to shoes it is common practice -to drive -ve nails, for example, into the-heel portion of the shoe, which is supported on a nailing die, and into the rear portion of the wedge heel and thereafter, during a separate nailing operation to drive two or four nails into the shank portion lof the shoe and the shank portion of the wedge heel, a holddown of the machine, between these two operations, being adjusted with relation to the nailing die Vas Vexplained in United States Letters Patent No. 2,186,155, granted January 9, 1940 on an application filed in the name of -Louis P. Tremblay.

The shank portion of a scooped Wedge heel is rather thin by reason of the fact that it has formed in it just forward of a planar tread face ofthe heel, a tunnel face which is formed by straight elements extending from one side of the heel to theother. In order effectively to attach the shank portion of the heel to the shank vvportion of the shoe it is desirable that the nails shall be of substantial length and clenched about said tunnel face fof the heel. Itis also desirable 'that Vthe shank portion of the scooped wedge heel shall be supported effectively along substantially its entire tunnel face, it also being desirable that the shoe shall be presented to the nailing die for the second nailing operation without the use `ot'fa separate back gage which is commonly engaged by the rear end of the heel and interferes with the presentation and removal of the shoe and its associated heel to and from the machine.

With the above considerations in view, the illustrative machine is provided with a nailing die having passages, a 4powered plunger movable toward andaway from the nailing die, a holddown which is operatively connected to the plunger and has a planar tread face adapted to engage the tread end of a scooped wedge heel positioned onta shoe mounted on the nailing die and in accordance with a feature ofthe invention, a shank abutment adapted to engage a substantial portion of the tunnel .face of the heel. The shank portion of the illustrative holddown .is accordance with another feature of the invention is initially adjustable lengthwise of the nailing die with relation to the planar tread face of the holddown in accordance with the `size and/ or style of the scooped Wedge heel to be accommodated, said holddown also vbeing initially movable as an entirety into diierent adjusted positions llengthwise of the nailing die.

The present invention consists in the above novelfeatures and in novel features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration, said invention being fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of a portion of an illustrative heel ataching machine just after it rhas driven ve nails into aheel portion of a shoe and into the rear portion-of a scooped wedge heel;

FIG. 2 is a plan View of a nailing die of the machine;

FlG. 3 is a View of a holddown carrier'of the Vmachine on the line lil-III of FIG. 1;

ICC

FIG. 4 is a view, partly broken away and partly in section, on the line IV-IV of FIG. 1 with the work removed from the machine; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, showing the shoe of FIG. 1, which shoe has been relocated on a nailing die of the machine, just after the machine has driven four nails into the shank portion of `the shoe and the scooped Wedge heel.

The illustrative machine is described with reference to the attachment of a scooped or tunneled wedge heel 20 (FIGS. 1 and 5) to heel and shank portions of a shoe 22 mounted fon a jack 24 comprising a nailingdie 26 secured by a screw 28 to an upright column 30 which is fixed to a main frame (not shown) of the machine and houses nail driver operating mechanism.

The nailing die 26 has formed in it a rear passage 32, a pair of middle passages 32a, and a pair of front passages 32b in which reciprocate drivers 34 respectively adapted to drive simultaneously ve nails 36 resting in the rear, middle and front passages, into the heelV portion of an insole 37 of the shoe 22 vand the rear portion of the scooped wedge heel 2t) during a lirst operation of the machine set vup as shown in FIG. 1, and for driving four nails 36 resting in the middle and front passages 32a, 32b respectively of the nailing die into the shank of the insole of the `shoe and the scooped Wedge heel duringra second operation of the machine set up as illustratedrin FIG. 5.

During the two independent operations of the Vmachine set up as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 the scooped wedge heel 20 is forced against the heel and shank portions Vof the bottom of the shoe 22 by a holddown 38 comprising a tread abutment 42 having a planar tread engaging face 44, and a shank abutment 46 having a longitudinally con- Vex or salientwork-engaging face 48 which is'ormed by straight laterally extending elements. The tread abutment 42 has a steel upper portion 42a and a brous lower portion 42h which is secured to said upper portion. The tread abutment 42 is bifurcated by a slot 50 andy extending through the slot `is a screw 52 threaded into a bore 54 of the shank abutment 46, said shank abutment `being secured to the tread abutment by the forced engagementof the head of the screw with a washer 56 bridging said slot. The shank abutment 46 may be set in different adjusted positions along the face 44 of the tread `abutment 42 `by releasing the screw and after moving the shank abutment to it-s proper position along said face, tighteningup on the screw 52 to secure the shank abutment to the tread abutment. If desirable the shank abutment 46 may have a flanged uper portion (not shown) tting in the slot 50 of the tread abutment 42 to insure that the screw 52 shall not be solely relied upon'tlo prevent rotation of the shank abutment on the tread abutment.

The scoopedwedge heel 20 comprises a rear portion having a planar tread face 58 and a tunnel .face .60 which is concave longitudinally and which extends from one side of the heel tothe other and transverse .elements of which are straight. The holddown 3S `is secured through an adaptor 64, which will be hereinafter described, to a block 66 into a bore V68 (FIG. 4) of which a rod'or plunger 7.0 is force-fitted, said block being secured to said rod by a pin 72. The rod 70 has secured to it a piston 73 which is reciprocable in a cylindrical bore 74 of a housing 76 fixed to the main frame of the machine and has an upper face 7S forming with said housing a chamber 80 alternately open to oil under high and exhaust .pressures admitted through a port 82. The piston 73 is depressed to canse the holddown 38 to be forced against the scooped wedge heel Ztl, which is manually held upon the bottom of the shoe 22 positioned on the nailing'die 26, bythe operation of high pressure oil against the face 78 of the piston 73, said piston being retracted to its raised position by a spring S4.

Vinside of the shoe as shown in FIG. 1.

In order to assist the operator in the positioning of the shoe 22 upon the nailing die 26 during the first stage of the heel attaching operation in which five nails are driven into the heel portion of the shoe and the rear portion of the scooped wedge heel, the nailing die is provided with a back gage 86 which is engaged by the rear end of the The back gage 86 has formed integrally with it a bifurcated stem 88 (FIG. 2) which fits slidingly in a slot 90 of the nailing die 26 and is spread laterally into forced engagement with the side walls of the slot to hold said gage in place by a wedge block 92 into which is threaded the lower end of a screw 94 rotatable in a bore of the nailing die.

Secured by a screw 96 to the block 66 is a bar 98 passing through a slot 100 in a guide flange 102 of the cylindrical housing 76 in order to insure against rotation of the block and accordingly of the piston rod 70 about an axis 104 of said rod. The screw 96 also cooperates with a screw 106 to secure a cover plate 108 to the block 66 and to the bar 98.

The adaptorA 64 has formed in it a T-shaped groove 110 Vin which the block 66 registers and has secured to it a spring 112 extending through a hole in a retainer pin 114 which fits slidingly in a bore 116 of the adaptor and may be inserted in and removed from a bore (not shown) in the block in order interchangeably to position different types of adaptors 64 and holddowns 38 in the machine in accordance with the type of heel being attached to the shoe.

Secured to the adaptor 64 is a bearing pin 118 having mounted on it a carrier 120 provided with an undercut slot 122 in whichregisters an arcuate foot 124 of an adjusting screw 126 shiftable in a bore 128 of the adaptor and having threaded onto it a hand nut 130 which tits in aV slot 132 .of the adaptor and may be rotated initially to move the carrier 120 into different angular operating `positions on the adaptor.

Formed in the bottom face of the carrier 120 is a V- shaped slot or groove 134 adapted slidingly to receive `a complemental tongue portion 136 of the tread abutment 42 which has a threaded bore 138 for receiving a thumb screw 140 having a collar 142 and a head spaced from said collar to form a groove 146. Secured to a forward end of the carrier 120 is a shoulder screw 147 having pivoted on ita latch'plate 148 which has a slot 150 (FIG. 3)

Yadapted to engage another shoulder screw 152 secured to said carrier, a central notch 154 of the latch plate being adapted to engage the thumb screw 140 and to fit in the slot 146.v When the latch plate 148 is in its operating position and the screw 140 is rotated, the tread abutment '42 is initially adjusted generally lengthwise of the V- shaped grove 134 to vary the operative position of the holddown 38 lengthwise of the nailing die 26. Rotation of the nut 130 causes the carrier 120 to be raised or lowered initially to vary the angular position of the carrier` and accordingly the holddown 38 to insure that the face 44 of the tread abutment 42 ofsaid holddown shall be parallel to the tread face` 58 ofthe heel 20 positioned upon the shoe 22. v

When the shoe 22 is positioned upon the nailing die 26 for the first nailing operation (FIG. 1 the rear end of the inside of the shoe engages the back gage 86, tive nails being driven through the heel portion of the shoe and into the heel. When the shoe 22 is positioned on the nailing die 26 for the rst nailing operation the axis104 of the piston rod 70 extends substantially through a line connecting the axes of the middle nail passages 32a of the nailing die 26. After the irst nailing operation Yhas been performed on a rack or more' of shoes, the operator rotates the thumb screw 140 `until the holddown 38 is positioned with relation to the4 nailing die 26 as shown in FIG. 5, the front and center passages 32b, 32a of the nailing die 26 at this time being arranged beneath the shank portionof the scooped wedge heel 20. The front pair of nails driven into the Shank portion ofA the scooped wedge heel are commonly long enough to strike the shank abutment 46 which serves as an anvil to clench the nails onto the tunnel face 60 of the heel thus insuring that in the finished shoe a gap will not develop between the shoe bottom and the forward end of the heel.

In attaching a wedge heel to a shoe it has been the practice preparatory to driving nails into the shank portion of the shoe and the heel, to employ a back gage or fork such as illustrated at (42) in the above-mentioned Patent 2,186,155. It has been found that the use of such back gage slows up the presentation of the shoe and the heel to the machine. In the present machine there is no necessity for such a back gage, the operator positioning by eye the shoe and its heel on the nailing die 26 as shown in FIG. 5. It is customary for the operator manually to present the shoe to which the heel has been prenailed in a desired position, somewhat ahead of its final operating position on the nailing die 26, the shank abutment 46 as it moves downward against the heel 20 serving as a cam operating against the forward edge 62 of the tread face 58 of the heel to slide the shoe rearwardly against the grip of the operator until the shoe and heel have been moved to their proper positions shown in FIG. 5. With the above practice it has been found that it is not necessary to use a back gage in the positioning of the work for the second nailing operation. It will thus be clear that the shank abutment 46 of the holddown 48serves to position the work upon the anvil as well as serves as an anvil against which nails are clenched.

We claim: Y

1. In a machine for attaching a scooped wedge heel to a shoe and having a nailing die for supporting the shoe by engagement with the rear portion of an insole of the shoe, a plunger movable toward and away from the nailing die, power means for moving said plunger toward and away from the nailing die, an adaptor initially secured in a predetermined position to the plunger, a carrier journaled upon the adaptor for movement about an axis extendingwidthwise of the nailing die, and means for initially moving the carrier upon the adaptor into different operating positions about said axis, a holddown mounted on the carrier and initially movable lengthwise of the die into different operative positions with relation to the die and the adaptor, said holddown comprising a tread abutment having a flat face adapted to engage the tread of the scooped wedge heel to be attached to the shoe, a shank abutment attached to said ytread abutment, and means for selectively varying the heel-contacting area of the holddown comprising means for adjusting the shank abutment lengthwise of said flat face of the tread abutment.

2. `In a machine for attaching a scooped wedge heel to a shoe and having a nailing die for supporting the shoe by engagement with the rear portion of an insole of the shoe, a plunger movable toward and away from the nailing die, power4 means for moving said plunger toward and away from the nailing die, an adaptor initially secured in a predetermined position to the plunger, a carrier journaled upon the adaptor for movement about an axis extending widthwise of the nailing die, and means for initially moving the carrier upon the adaptor into diiferent operating positions about said axis, a holddown mounted on the carrier and initially movable lengthwise of the die into dilerent operative positions with relation to the die and the adaptor, said holddown comprising a tread abutment having a at face adapted to engage the tread of Athe scooped wedge heel to be attached Y to the shoe, and a Yshank abutment attached to said tread 3. In a machine for attaching a scooped wedge heel Vto a shoe and having a nailing die for supporting the shoe by engagement with the rear portion of an insole of the shoe, a plunger movable toward and away from the nailing die, power means for moving said plunger toward and away from the nailing die, an adaptor initially secured in a predetermined position to the plunger, a carrier journaled upon the adaptor for movement about an axis extending Widthwise of the nailing die, and means for initially moving the carrier upon the adaptor into different operating positions about said axis, a holddown mounted on `the carrier and initially movable lengthwise of the die into different operative positions with relation to the die and the adaptor, said holddown comprising a tread abutment having a at face adapted to engage the tread of the scooped wedge heel to be attached to the shoe, a shank abutment attached to said tread abutment and 6 comprising a cam for rst urging the heel into position and then engaging a substantial portion of a tunnel face of said heel for pressing the shoe against the nailing die, and means for initially selectively varying the heel-contacting area of the holddown comprising means for adjusting the shank abutment lengthwise of said tread abutment.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,186,155 1/40 Tremblay 1-335 X 2,199,514 5/40 Stratton 1-335 GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, IR., Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR ATTACHING A SCOOPED WEDGE HEEL TO A SHOE AND HAVING A NAILING DIE FOR SUPPORTING THE SHOE BY ENGAGEMENT WITH THE REAR PORTION OF AN INSOLE OF THE SHOE, A PLUNGER MOVABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE NAILING DIE, POWER MEANS FOR MOVING SAID PLUNGER TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE NAILING DIE, AN ADAPTOR INITIALLY SECURED IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION TO THE PLUNGER, A CARRIER JOURNALED UPON THE ADAPTOR FOR MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS EXTENDING WIDTHWISE OF THE NAILING DIE, AND MEANS FOR INITIALLY MOVING THE CARRIER UPON THE ADAPTOR INTO DIFFERENT OPERATING POSITIONS ABOUT SAID AXIS, A HOLDDOWN MOUNTED ON THE CARRIER AND INITIALLY MOVABLE LENGTHWISE OF THE DIE INTO DIFFERENT OPERATIVE POSITIONS WITH RELATION OF THE DIE AND THE ADAPTOR, SAID HOLDDOWN COMPRISING A TREAD ABUTMENT HAVING A FLAT FACE ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE TREAD OF THE SCOOPED WEDGE HEEL TO BE ATTACHED TO THE SHOE, A SHANK ABUTMENT ATTACHED TO SAID TREAD ABUTMENT, AND MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY VARYING THE HEEL-CONTACTING ARE OF THE HOLDDOWN COMPRISING MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE SHANK ABUTMENT LENGTHWISE OF SAID FLAT FACE OF THE TREAD ABUTMENT. 